The next day at St. Margaret’s Academy was excruciating. Madison sat at her desk, the perfect image of poise, but every time she felt Chris’s gaze from three rows back, her ears turned a bright, betraying pink.
She had spent the entire lunch break hidden in the library, not studying, but scrolling through her guild’s message board. There was a new floor boss raid scheduled for 9:00 PM.
I need to focus, she told herself, staring at her advanced trigonometry notes. I am Madison Glose. I am composed. I am—
"Glose-san," a teacher called out. "Could you solve the problem on the board?"
Madison stood up, glided to the front, and solved the complex equation in thirty seconds. The class watched in awe. Chris, however, noticed the way she gripped the chalk—exactly like one would grip the hilt of a sword. He hid a smile behind his hand.
9:00 PM: Skyline Apartments
Madison was in her element. She was wearing her NerveGear-style headset (the latest model), her room was illuminated by the blue glow of three monitors, and she was currently screaming.
"Switch! Switch now, you idiot!" she yelled, slamming her fist onto her desk. "If the tank doesn't pull aggro, we’re all going to be crystals in five seconds! Star Splash!"
She was deep in the zone, her fingers flying across the keys. She forgot she was in a luxury apartment. She forgot she had neighbors. She was currently on Floor 74, and the boss’s health bar was in the red.
"Dodge! To the left! Hah!"
Suddenly, a rhythmic thump-thump-thump came from the wall shared with Unit 401.
Madison froze, her character mid-swing. She pulled her headset off. The silence of her room rushed in, making her shouting feel incredibly loud in retrospect.
Thump-thump-thump.
Then, a muffled voice came through the plaster. "Madison? Are you... dying? Or are you just fighting a Gleam Eyes?"
Madison turned bright red. She crawled over to the wall, pressed her ear against the wallpaper, and whispered, "I'm winning! And it's a Floor Boss, for your information!"
"Well, you're winning very loudly," Chris’s voice came through, sounding amused. "I’m trying to temper chocolate over here, and every time you scream 'Switch,' I drop the temperature. Do you want a lumpy truffle? Because that’s how we get lumpy truffles."
Madison leaned her forehead against the wall. "I'm sorry. I'll be quiet."
"Don't be quiet," Chris replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "Just... give me a signal. If you're about to do a big attack, knock twice. I'll wait to stir the ganache."
Madison felt a strange flutter in her chest. At school, people didn't talk to her; they talked at her. They asked for help with homework or admired her from afar. But Chris was talking to her through a wall about truffles and boss fights as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Chris?" she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Did the truffles turn out okay?"
There was a pause. Then, a small clicking sound as his balcony door opened. "Come to the balcony and find out."
Madison scrambled up, threw on her hoodie, and stepped out into the cool night air. Chris was leaning over the railing of the adjacent balcony, holding a small white plate with two dark, shimmering chocolate squares.
He reached across the gap—the dangerous drop of four stories between them—and handed her the plate.
"A peace offering," he said. "For the girl who is #2 in school but clearly #1 in Aincrad."
Madison took a bite. The chocolate melted instantly, a burst of rich sea salt and dark cocoa. It was better than anything she had ever eaten. It tasted like... home.
"It’s amazing," she whispered, looking at him. The moonlight caught the flour still smudged on his cheek. "You’re really going to be a great chef, Chris."
"And you’re going to beat that boss," he said, pointing toward her glowing room. "Go back in. I’ll keep the chocolate warm for the victory lap."
As Madison stepped back inside, she realized that the "Ice Queen" mask was starting to melt, and it was all because of a boy with a spatula and a very thin wall.
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and then Add to home screen.